Mother's Day

This year Mother's Day was on a Saturday for me. (Kevin was in Oregon that weekend and on Sunday one of the boys had a basketball tournament all day). So we made an adventure of it one day early. The boys and I went to Paradisio, an hours' drive south into the French-speaking half of Belgium. Paradisio is a huge nature and animal park. A couple of the boys had been there for a school trip and raved about being a very cool place.

The first thing we did was to walk through the area with at least 20 large bird cages. There were so many types of birds with the

most vivid colors! Dozens of vibrant, rainbow-colored parakeets, bright yellow canaries, goofy-looking black and white birds that jumped from branch to branch in their cages. Bright pink flamingos burning red, pointy-billed birds, lapis colored ones, emerald green shimmery ones. We walked through a "tropical rainforest" enclosure with wildly colored birds. It was pretty amazing.

In the tropical bird enclosure area, there was an access to the rope bridge which traverses the park. It spans from one end to the other and has stops along the way with "Japanses-style" towers (Cameron's description) and stairs down into other areas of the park. When lots of people were walking on a section of the bridge, it really started bouncing. It was hard not to hold onto the sides to keep from loosing balance. The boys thought it was great and, of course, tried to make it shake as much a possible to jostle each other's balance. Thankfully the people in front of us were far enough in front of us that I don't think my guys caused them any harm. (No one yelled at us, at least.)

After passing out of the bird area the bridge lead us out over the japanese gardens. There was a river-like pond of koi swimming around and exotic birds roaming the edges of the water. Along the winding "river" was a Chinese-styled covered walkway, complete with pointed, curved ends on all the roof sections. It was covered with blue tiles and the woodwork was very stylized.

The first stop along the rope bridge was at the massive playground area. It had plenty of the standard playground fare - regular swings, tire swings, climbing walls, rope netting towers for climbing, and teter-toters.

And then there were things hadn't seen before - beyond seesaws. The had standing platforms the kids could stand on, and in addition to going up and down, they pivoted on the center stand!

The boys spent an hour or more running from one thing to another, pairing up to ride these balancing structures. There was an area for older kids with higher bars and more possibilities for really flying. There was also a climbing pole with a standing pad that would slide down if perfectly horizontal. But if the person standing on it pushed down with one foot to make it diagonal, then it would grab and not slide. It had a "handle" piece that did the same thing and, once he figured out how to make it work, Cameron was able to make it to the top of the pole. It was a tough challenge!

There were so many animals. The next ones we came across were the small climbing creatures. They were roaming freely in their areas, with no fences or bars to keep them away from us and vice versa. Once area looked like a safari camp" and there were a few very small monkeys climbing on and around the buildings and coming down to see if anyone had something tasty for them in their hands. Next was a lemur area, with a group of lemur mamas and babies hanging out in the shade of the bushes. The gaggle (or whatever you call a group of lemurs - anyone, anyone?) was only 3-4 feet away from us. I was able to video a couple of the youngest ones playing chase and trying to knock each other from the low branches of a nearby tree.

In the rest of the park we saw kangaroos, bats, penguins and birds of prey. There was also a tide pool area with urchins to hold and live shrimp, starfish and baby shark eggs. We didn't have time to go into the marine exhibit building - there was just too much to see. We can't wait to get back there later in the summer to see some of what we skipped and to show Kevin the cool things we did see. It was a GREAT way to spend the day with my guys.

Giving directions (also about language)

I get asked for directions often. One time when I was out for a run, a guy pulled over and asked for directions in French. As I tried to answer, he picked up on the English tones. He was originally from Mexico and learned English while working in LA. We ended up talking French and English because he was originally from Mexico, but married a French girl so now he lives in France. His English was spotty, like my French. But between the two languages we managed to communicate pretty well. He said it fun to speak English because it was more like being "home" on the other side of the world. I've tried to put him in contact with another Mexican friend of mine who married a Belgian guy and lives here now. Haven't heard if they connected.

Last week while out for a long run, a big truck pulled over and the older man driving asked for directions. Because he was in the dutch speaking area, he asked for directions in dutch. But when I started to tell him where to go (since I've gotten lost enough to know some of the roads now) he muttered "Oui, oui", which showed me he was normally French speaking. (I've come to the conclusion that the language people use for their little words, like yes and no, when talking about something else, is usually their mother tongue.) So, when he used the "oui" I finished giving him directions in French. He seemed to understand me. Hopefully he found Dottenijs.

Another time 2 ladies, who sounded like they might be Italian, came right up to me and asked, in English, if I could tell them how to get to the center of town. I wondered if I looked English-speaking, and asked them how they knew to ask in English. They said they'd asked a few people and English seemed to be the language the locals understood. (They didn't speak dutch.)

One guy I gave directions to asked me what we were doing for lunch. I turned him down, but it made me grin.

There was a time, early on, when I gave directions and as soon as the guy drove off I realized I'd given bad advice. Oops. I try to only give directions if I'm really sure I know the roads.

Vormsel (Confirmation)

Andrew and Cameron had their Confirmation Saturday, May 16 at our small, local chapel. Cameron is in the year kids do their confirmation in Beligum and we had Andrew do it also since he'll be past the age for it when we return (I think). It was more interesting for them to go through the process together. 

The boys were in a small group which met every 2 weeks or so throughout the year. Their group leader was Joske, a lively, friendly woman who was a fun leader for the boys. They had things to discuss in their group and then did outreach things like helping selling at an Amfar World Store, visiting elderly people at care centers and helping out at a soup kitchen downtown.

As the confirmation drew closer, all the groups met in the chapel to practice singing for the mass and the order for the service. The group of women who put it all together did a good job of getting the kids involved in the mass. They sang, brought things to the alter, gave readings and two girls played violins. 

All the kids wore robes for the service. We didn't try Andrew's robe on until the morning of the confirmation. (I know, not smart of me not to do it sooner.) Because he's older (and taller) than the other kids, the largest size of robe didn't go past his shins. This wouldn't have been a problem except that he put it on over his long, nice shorts (that all the kids were wearing) and I took one look at his skinny ankles sticking out the bottom and realized he'd look much better with long pants. Except his only long pants these days are jeans! So I grabbed a pair of Kevin's dress slacks, had Andrew put them on and he used his belt to cinch the waist. We all had a good laugh at Andrew in Kevin's bulky (on Andrew) pants!

The priest in red in the picture below is a Dom at a monestary and served as the Vormheer (confirmation bestower?) at the mass. (He stepped back onto the alter to reach Andrew's forehead to make the sign of the cross on it. Everyone chuckled at that.) Our neighbor, Jan, (also in the photo) stood in as godfather for both boys. He took the boys and Kevin on a day trip of river rafting the day after the confirmation. The boys told me it was one of the best days they've had since we've been here. Jan's brother arranged for the boats and had all the gear, and Jan's daughter, Charlotte, went too. (More about the raft trip in another post.)

The regular priest, Priester Michael (below), presided over the mass. Very nice man.

The whole group after the service.

Andrew's getting an A in English!

English is added here in 8th grade. So, this year Andrew has his only "easy A" in English, and he spends that class time in the library working on his dutch. He only needs to be in class for the exams or presentation days. At the beginning of the year, his English teacher told him she won't "correct" his pronunciation to the British English they teach here, since he'll be returning to the US. However, because of his American pronunciation, he's not able to get 100% for the class. A 95% still helps to off-set his scores in dutch, which naturally will always be lower!

Lost in Translation?

Okay, I think language (or languages!) is going to be a recurring. Multiple languages spoken in one small county, with other countries and different languages with in a few hours' drive, lends itself to a comedy of language errors.

There are lots words in dutch which have the same or similar spelling to the corresponding word in English. There are many, many words that are completely different. Then there are the words that are virtually the same, with a similar definition, but not the same meaning. 2 have come up lately:

The word normally translates to normaal in dutch, but the meaning is a little different. When we use normally, it's to show what is normally done, in contrast to what will be done in a certain situation. As in an answer to "Where do we find this item?", someone might say, "Normally it's over there, but now it's on the other side of the store." But here, normally is how things will be done.  Kevin once asked when a meeting would take place, and he was told that "normally it is in the afternoon", leading Kevin to ask when it would actually take place.  Again he was told "normally it is in the afternoon". 

The other word is aggressive or agressief in dutch. Kevin was at Cameron's basketball game and yelled "Come on guys, get aggressive!" Another dad, who yells things out during games, looked over at Kevin with a surprised look, laughed and said, "Ya, okay, be aggressive!" That seemed fine. But at another game Kevin again yelled for the boys to get aggressive and he got a funny look from a more quiet dad sitting next to him. Kevin told the man he thought aggressive might not mean what he thinks it means. The guy told him it means something more like get brutal, more violent. Not as appropriate for a basketball game.

A few months ago, Kevin told the boys to go "borst" their tanden, conjugating borstelen, the dutch word for brush. But borst is breast. So he basically told them to "go breast your teeth". The boys had a good laugh at that and still use it as a joke. 

Most of my trouble comes from having French in my head from living in France for 6 months in college. Here I've focused more on dutch so I can get around and talk to the boys' friends when they come over. But I find that if I need to use French in a situation, I tend to mix it with dutch. My mind isn't great at keeping the two separate. It lumps words for both in the single category of "foreign language". The good thing is that people here know both languages, but as someone pointed out - it's not easy for them to listen and know which language to listen for when I accidently mix them. But it's fun to be in Wallonia (the French half) and be able to rattle off a bit in French. The boys were pretty impressed with this at first. Then they learned enough french in school that Cameron told me once "I used to think you spoke pretty good french, but now I kind of know better". Ouch! (Nothing like humble kids, eh?) And of course the boys blow Kevin and me out of the water when it comes to speaking dutch. They translate for us now. It's a little weird to have times when you need your kid to help you understand something or to be understood. Makes me think about all the people who move to new lands for a better life and they're in the same situation of not being able to communicate. Only I know I'm only here for a few years. If I were here permanently I think I'd do more to immerse myself so I could be more comfortable. Hmmm....

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TRAVIS - 13 TODAY!!

Travis (Revisited)

A few more photos from Travis' time here, now that all the photos are in the computer. 

The guys spent a lot of time on the trampoline (until it broke),

We made a trip to a small but full-of-variety candy store,

Travis and Cameron rode with Kevin on one of his runs,

And we had a fun day playing at the beach and riding funky bikes.